*SPOILERS FOR GUNDAM SEED. I WILL BE REVIEWING THE 2011 HD REMASTER. TO ANY DIEHARDS OUT THERE, PLEASE DO NOT BE DISPLEASED WITH THE FACT THIS GOT A SCORE LESS THAN 9 OR 10? ALSO, PLEASE WARD OFF SEED HATERS FROM ATTACKING ME DUE TO ME ONLY GIVING IT A DECENT SCORE?*
Ah, Gundam SEED. One of the more vocally divisive Gundam shows out there despite having a higher MAL score than most Gundam shows. I have a weird experience with this show, and honestly, the tone of this review will likely flop between positive and defensive, and cynical and negative. There is a LOT to talk about regarding my experiences of this show, and let me say, I wanted to put this down several times in the first half. Also, this is melodrama incarnate. Not much of a hyperbole there. Now, was it worth it, or did it blow up in red mobile suit smoke? Let's find out, shall we?
STORY: 5/10
Let's talk about the premise. A group in space declaring hostility against the Earth Federation, the group attacking a civilian base in the Federation, only for our protagonist to find a Gundam during the time his neighbors are dying, and stops the attack only to find out he must now join an army after most of the civilians in his area have died. That's right. If you've caught on, you would know that this show starts off as a ripoff of the original Mobile Suit Gundam. The rest of the show is about two coordinators forced to fight in opposite sides of a war as they make friends and hope to not have to kill each other. Also, there are plenty of politics, not just between the two sides, that being Earth and the PLANTS, but also between Earth and ORB and even among ORB members, Earth forces, and PLANT forces. It is interesting seeing many attempts to stop this war with minimal bloodshed and with more diplomacy. That, and there are some really strong moments in the story, like in episode 29 or 27 for the HD remaster. However, there are a good number of gaping plot holes throughout, and they get increasingly large throughout, and it dosen't even TRY to explain or hand wave anything like with Code Geass or Gurren Lagann, not that hand waving disagreeable plot points is a good thing.
The SEED mechanic is the biggest deus ex machina crap ever, since we don't even know the FIRST THING about it other than it being a voluntary-ish deus ex machina. Also, the finale in particular has a few ass pull moments that would rival those of Gundam 00 2nd season. However, it does pose some interesting politics and moral ideologies, the latter of which, if done even remotely correctly like with this show, can really help an otherwise flawed as frig plot such as this. Also, expect some horrific cases of Sunrise's bring characters back to life/ don't kill off characters when they have no chance of survival. Believe me, the latter happens to the protagonist TWICE, and the former actually happens to one minor antagonist in particular, and believe me, they use these a lot in this show, and it's almost maddening in certain situations. Plus, the execution of the ending was kinda dumb, and even has that whole deal Sunrise does that I just mentioned. Plus, the melodrama is extreme, and more often then not, not worth it. They should've really toned it down at points.
CHARACTERS: 6/10
I'll be upfront. The characters in the first half bothered me for most part, particularly in the second cour. However, they certainly got a lot better in the second half, even with a few things wrong here and there... Now, Kira Yamato. His moral compass towards the middle of the first half becomes such an unbelievable moral compass, that he actually becomes rather unlivable at points, however, thanks to Andy, a charismatic antagonist with a bleak yet common (in this show at least) viewpoint of war, Kira actually reflects on his actions and moral compass, and becomes a more cohesive individual because of it. Many side characters aren't that special but are decent none the less, except Mu La Flaga. He was kinda cool. There are two I need to mention though. Sai. Poor Sai. Got treated poorly by Flay, and got his ass nearly kicked by Kira, and disappeared for most of the final arc for some reason. Literally, he's hardly even there at all for the last 10 episodes. As for Flay, *SIGH* oh boy. She is so damn useless and bitchy. She literally contributes nothing but drama, and that's what makes her a faulty character rather that a character who we're supposed to hate for the right reasons. Now, some of the villains actually have a point in their messed up ideals, but don't have a whole lot going for them aside from Andy, and the most prominent antagonist, Le Cruset, who gives us an ASTOUNDING performance in the last 7 episodes. There is also Arthrun, who's probably the best protagonistic character here. His comrades, are mostly good at their job as characters and pilots, except for Yzak, but even he improves towards the end. There's also Lacus, who's songstress idol part of her character is underutilized, and has a drastic and not built up surge of maturity around episode 34. Unfortunately, for episodes 8-20, I could not stand a lot of these people, and that's a big problem with the second cour in particular, even if, like I said, the second cour actually makes many of them actually tolerable.
ART: 3/10
For the good, there's the Gundams and other Mobile Suits. They look cool, and many of the battles, especially in the last 5 episodes, look pretty cool, especially those laser effects in those last 5 episodes, not to say they didn't look good before, because they did, but it's obvious that they pulled all the stops in the last 5 episodes. At points, the character models can look ok.
For the bad, just about everything else. The character models look so damn wonky. Back in the mid-2000's, many companies tried their hand at digital animation, but for the most part, failed to get it right until 2006 with shoes like Haruhi and Code Geass using it to excellent effect. This show, Gundam SEED, highlights just how bad it can get. The facial expressions look horrendous at many points, and it takes a while to even adjust to the wonky digital models. Hell, there is a lot of Studio Sunrise's trademark animation recycling going on, especially with the openings and fight scenes, way more than normal, and that is just unacceptable. Also, the CGI is hideous and poorly integrated a whole lot, especially in the first half.
SOUND: 6/10
The OST, is pretty good with many well done emotional pieces, and Lacus's song that's sung a few times, ("In this quiet night") is good too. Now, OP 1 and OP 2 both kinda suck. They are pretty weak despite some cool points. Now, OP 3, is pretty damn awesome, and actually gets pretty catchy. OP 4 is very nice and just perfect as a way to encapsulate the final stretch of this anime as it just feels like something nice and emotional and gratifying coming to an end (even if this show up until the final cour has been kinda bad), making it just as good as OP 3. Now, for ED 1, it also fails at being an emotional piece. ED 2 for the original, is pretty. Now REMASTER ED 2 on the other hand, is definitely a great emotional ED, and I loved it. Now, ED 3, which only plays once in the HD version, is decent enough. Now, the dub. It's awful.Most of the voices are downright terrible, and they even swapped the good sound effects of the original with some crappy stock sound effects just to censor this for young Cartoon Network audiences, which this show can only really cater to anyone over the age of 13. Damn Bandai dub.
ENJOYMENT: 5/10
The first 7 episodes left me believing that this show would be pretty good. However, most of the episodes from the range of 8-20 infuriatied me and I nearly dropped it. Luckily most of 21-28 was decent afterward, especially with Andy. Then, most of the episodes after that were actually pretty alright, sometimes even good, minus the plot holes. The battles got progressively better for the most part as well. Still, that second cour was hell. Can't forgive that...
OVERALL: 5/10 RAW SCORE: 49/100
Overal, I was kinda disappointed in some areas, and even with how cool the 2nd half got at times, it just has too many major plot holes to be truly good, and the characters aren't that great either, mostly. That's not to say that I thought this was a genuinely bad series, but he first half definitely hindered this series as a whole, and the plot holes are egregious. Sure, the fights got cooler as the show progressed, but the second cour, man did it leave me sour! Still, after that it grew much nore tolerable and fun, even if the plot in that half got worse. Even still, I can see why some people do praise this series. It has some decent conflicting ideals and actually tries it's hand at politics in war and had characters make peaceful attempts at resolutions. I just wish it was less derivative and full of infuriating melodrama and awful character art and CGI. Well, with that said, I bid you adieu.
